


Investigation of Despair

by Sai_Shuu_Academy



Series: NDRV3 Mastermind AU Stories [1]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And one of the easiest to write in my opinion, Decided to start with one of my favorite characters, Mastermind AU, Maybe Spoilers, New Dangan Ronpa V3 Spoilers, Potential Spoilers, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 05:08:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10154384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sai_Shuu_Academy/pseuds/Sai_Shuu_Academy
Summary: In which Saihara Shuuichi is the mastermind of the New Killing School Life.{1/16}





	1. Introduction of a New Despair

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be one of many. More specifically, one of sixteen. Yep.  
> Started with one of the easier characters to write.  
> Also didn't tag survivors in case of potential spoilers. But hey, no one really knows they're spoilers. But the thing is focused on Mastermind!Saihara. So yeah.

Akamatsu watched in horror as Momokuma disappeared in a cloud of smoke, an evil cackle resounding around the room, high-pitched voice deepening by about half an octave.

The voice laughed under their breath. "Aw, your faces are all so despairing! Was that  _my_ doing?" They asked. They slowly stepped out of the smoke, Akamatsu gasping and slapping a hand over her mouth.

"S-Saihara-kun?!" Kiibo exclaimed from his podium.

The detective laughed. "Of course! Did you  _really_ think that I'd let Amami kill  _me_?" He asked mockingly.

Akamatsu remembered the green-haired boy's execution; he had been compressed from all sides, walls slowly pushing in on him. Eventually, he died with pained screams from the pressure. 

"But... You  _died!_ I investigated your body! We sent Amami to be executed when he accidentally killed you!" Akamatsu cried.

"But Akamatsu-san, how did you find my body? What was the condition?" He asked, arms crossing and tilting his head toward the ceiling slightly. Then, he smirked, laughing. "It's obvious, you  _idiots_! There wasn't any harm done to me! Amami was innocent! You sent an  _innocent_ _person_ to their  _death_ for  _murder_!" He cackled.

"W-What...?" Kiibo seemed to be awestruck. He even seemed as if he looked scared; his eyes were wide and his hands were shaking.

Saihara chuckled. "Oh, I forgot about that! Hey, Kiibo!" He pointed at the robot, laughing. "You killed an innocent! You killed an innocent!"

"Why is that so significant?" Harukawa asked suddenly. 

Saihara stopped, hands slowly coming to his sides. His eyes darkened. "It's because someone so great, they were called SHSL Hope killed an innocent." He said.

"Eh?! No! Amami couldn't have been innocent! He killed-" Momota stopped, hands twitching. 

"You can't even  _comprehend_ what terrible crime you've committed?!" Saihara cackled. His eyes swirled with despair. "Oh, it's just so  ** _despairing_**!" He laughed maniacally. 

"But, how did you even survive that? You took a cannonball to the head!" Momota shouted.

Saihara stopped, eyes darkening once more. "Who ever said I survived?" He murmured.

Kiibo shook his head. "W-Why are you doing this?!" He cried. "Why would you kill them?!" He questioned, a fire in his blue eyes.

Saihara laughed, shaking his head. "I can't answer that. That's for  _you_ to answer." He gestured to the four of them.

Akamatsu steeled herself. "Fine then. Let's do this, Saihara-kun." 

* * *

"Well, it seems as if you've done it!" Saihara laughed. Akamatsu was tearing up, and she saw that the three others were shaken up as well. 

Momota looked nervous, somewhat tired, with shaking hands and eyes darting around the room. Harukawa seemed as if she was in disbelief, shaking her head every once and a while and rubbing her eyes before looking back up st the trial room and Saihara. Kiibo seemed scared, shrinking to the back of his podium as far as he could, hands shaking, sweating, and eyes wide. The four had chosen to leave, despite knowing what dangers and the apocalyptic world that awaited them.

Saihara laughed. "Your faces are so full of despair... I love it." He declared, pulling a crown out of nowhere and fitting it onto his hatless head. His ahoge slipped through it, fitting nicely.

"Well, I happen to have a nice execution left for whoever was found guilty here." Saihara laughed. "For the final execution, let's give it everything we've got! It's punishment time!" He cackled as his podium was dragged away at a high speed to the execution. 

The large screen appeared as usual, and Saihara was sitting calmly in the same small enclosure that Amami died in, yawning as the walls closed in. Then, he was in a mansion, but instead of being hunted by a mob, he was being carried by the mob. After that, he appeared on a tennis court, and when the tennis balls dispensing from the machine approached him, he simply held up a racket, deflecting them. Suddenly, he was in a room full of dangerous-looking inventions, looking ready to kill him at any given moment.

Finally, he showed up atop a large set of stairs, sitting on a throne. His legs were crossed, and he yawned as he heard whatever had come to kill Ouma in his execution. He pulled Monokuma out from behind the throne, hugging him with one arm and waving with the other. Smaller plushes of the Monokumarz appeared on his shoulders and head, waving with the SHSL Despair. The room went dark as Saihara cackled. When the lights returned, he was gone, and all that was left were a large splatter of blood, and Momokuma's eye.

Akamatsu took a deep breath as she looked upon the deathbed of two of her friends.

 


	2. A Single Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saihara was murdered by Amami... Right? So, why does Akamatsu feel as if this is... wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This includes Amami's execution by the way. Just saying. And Akamatsu somehow figuring that something is very, very wrong based on how Amami acted.

"Upupupupu... That's right! The killer was Amami Rantarou! Congratulations!" Monokuma chirped.

"N-No..." Amami murmured, arms coming up to his chest. His green eyes were wide as he backed away, hips colliding with the back of his podium. 

"I have a very special punishment prepared for Amami Rantarou, the only one who couldn't remember his talent! Upupupupu!"

"No...  _no..._ "

"Let's give it everything we've-"

" _No! You can't do this! You can't!_ " Amami shouted, hands coming up to tangle in his hair. Some of the strands had became caught in his eyebrow piercing, causing him to wince as he cleared his face of the hair.

"But, Amami-kun... You were found guilty!" Monokuma declared.

"No!  _I didn't do it! I'm not a murderer! I'm not a killer!_ " He cried.

"Amami-kun, calm down!" Akamatsu called from across the circle. Amami shook, hands carding through green.

"It isn't working..." Ouma commented when Amami continued to shout.

"Well, no shit." Momota scowled.

"Someone should help him calm down... Probably..." Shirogane suggested.

"I can do it." Akamatsu volunteered.

"Huh? Akamatsu-san? You want to complete another Panic Talk Action?" Akamatsu nodded at Monokuma's words. "Alright then." He shrugged, taking out a small key and inserting it into a keyhole by his side. 

Akamatsu's world slowed, and her surroundings became blurred into colorful blobs as she focused on Amami's words.

" _Why won't you listen to me?! I'm innocent! You can't do this! I'm not a killer!_ " He shouted. Akamatsu could hear the muffled voices of her classmates as she retorted.

"No, Amami-kun! You can't deny it anymore! Stop it!" She shouted.

" _No! Please don't do this! I didn't kill him! I'm innocent!_ " He yelled.

"The evidence is there, Amami-kun! The evidence points to you! There's no other person it could be!"

" _I didn't kill him! I'm not a murderer! Why won't you listen to me?!_ " He finally stopped protesting, slamming his hands on his podium and asking one final question.

" _If I killed Saihara-kun, then why didn't anyone see me downstairs or in the library?!_ "

"The vent in the classroom..." Akamatsu muttered. "It all ends here!" She shouted. 

"Amami-kun... The evidence could only make you the culprit. You used the vent in the classroom to roll the cannonball onto Saihara-kun's head." She said gently. 

Amami shook, eyes wide with fear as he backed away from the circle of podiums, shoes gently tapping on the checkered floor. He looked around at his classmates, and while their faces were worried, their eyes reflected his fear and anxiety. Some were fidgeting, some were tensed... He suddenly stopped fighting. He knew what they believed. 

 _They think that if they get rid of me... They'll be safe..._ He thought, realizing what he had to do. He took a deep breath.

"Fine. Monokuma..." He murmured his final request, fueled by the need to help his classmates, whether he had murdered Saihara... Or if Saihara had murdered him. "Do it."

"Alright then! I have a very special execution prepared for Amami Rantarou, the only one who can't remember his talent! Let's give it everything we've got! It's punishment time!"

* * *

Akamatsu watched in shock and horror as Amami looked around at his classmates before a metal claw reached out to grab his neck, dragging him backwards toward his execution.

A large screen lowered from the ceiling. It was dark for a moment before showing Amami's profile, also showing a small part of the walls around him, blackness making a border around the box Amami was in.

Everything seemed to pause for a moment before something shifted - the walls. They began to close in on the teen inside them, making him shift and scramble to attempt to find a grip on the concrete wall with ring-covered fingers. 

As the walls closed in, Amami's legs became pressed against his chest, clearly causing him pain. The space became smaller, his neck being forced between his knees. 

He cried out in pain, and Akamatsu pinpointed the source: the wall closest to his legs was pushing on his legs too much. She could see the walls pressing down on his neck as well. 

Eventually, after many cries and screams of pain, the walls stopped. Amami was still crushed into a small boxlike position, and couldn't move. 

Suddenly, the walls behind and in front of him came together, leaving Amami dead and his body invisible to the spectators' eyes. The screen went dark again, and Monokuma dismissed them with a smile on his face. 

Akamatsu left the trial room with a heavy feeling weighing down on her shoulders. She couldn't tell if it was the dread and terror from the killing game, or... guilt.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a small room connected to the library, a figure laughed quietly as they watched the class enter their rooms without a word to each other. 

"Oh, Amami-kun... Had to kill someone so early? I barely even gave you a motive." They huffed. 

Taking off his hat, Saihara laughed louder. "But seeing you die in such a slow, painful way brings me such despair! If only you could've seen what I had seen..." He sighed. "Either way, Amami-kun, you're out of my way now. No more being mysterious and drawing so much attention to getting out of this place." He snarled. "I hate it when you did that. But although it brought you and our classmates hope, it brought me despair. So I appreciate it either way." He admitted to the air.

"Now just to wait another day or so, and give the rest of you another motive... Perhaps a video of dead loved ones? Or maybe a giant pile of money? Maybe revealing your deepest, darkest secrets to the world... Such despair..."

And with those thoughts in his mind, Saihara Shuuichi went to work on the next motive.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Akamatsu just sorta accepts Monokuma breaking the fourth wall at this point despite it being the first trial. And Saihara rambling to himself like the crazy despairing person he is. Damn this is short.

**Author's Note:**

> Potential spoilers because I called Kiibo the SHSL Hope and I don't actually know if that's true or not... And I made Amami kill Saihara instead of what actually happened in the first chapter. (I'm only on the second chapter, believe it or not.)


End file.
